B4FV312: The Coming of Time
by Fifth Voyager
Summary: Tom, James and Chakotay get caught in a repeating timeloop where they have to solve and prevent a murder case.
1. Chapter 1

The Coming of Time

**Disclaimer**  
The basic concept of this episode isn't exactly original, a lot of good sci-fi/fantasy series (and bad) have a timeloop episode. There's been Next Generation, Buffy (well it had a timeloop scene), X-Files.. Of course there's the series Tru Calling.  
In a way this episode is a prequel to a mid Season Five episode.

**Please Note**  
Brace yourselves we're no longer in "B4 Fifth Voyager", we're in "During Aggressions" territory A few scenes from the first main season episode "Aggressions" takes place after and in between the previous episode. I tried to write it so you wouldn't need to read any of "Aggressions", at least until this season ends in about thirteen episodes anyway.

**Episode Synopsis**  
James, Tom and Chakotay are taken back to the beginning of their day, over and over again.

**Guest Stars**  
Adam Blaustein  
Jake Wood

**Written By**  
Marill

**Written**  
25th - 27th, 29th & 30th May 2005

**Episode Based In**  
July 2372 (early season 3)

**_Captains Log Stardate 50 um During Aggressions episode two.. point one: I'm trying my best to cut down on coffee like the Doctor suggested, but no matter what I do I just can't stop going to the replicator for more. I asked the Doctor to use a patch but he just said something about being crazy and suicidal, so I've instructed B'Elanna to check to see if he's added depression to his program._**

_**In other news Damien has been acting like a bigger a than usual, and has been picking a fight with the writers on occasion. If we end up with any annoying episodes where people die or get badly injured, or short completely pointless episodes I'm blaming him for it. Also the crew have reported seeing a menacing intruder onboard recently, the Doctor reports that the amount of people hitting their heads against the wall and being knocked unconscious has increased. Chakotay believes it may be related, but I'm not going to believe everything that son of a bch keeps saying.. I didn't get pregnant just by sitting next to him with a few 'harmless' drinks, did I?**_

_**Oh.. wait this isn't the personal log.**_

**The Bridge:**  
"This is confusing," Harry said.

Tuvok glanced over at him, "what is?"

"If this episode is based between events in the first ever episode, how come this is still referred to as the third Before Fifth Voyager season?" Harry questioned.

"Because Season Three would of only been ten episodes long, and having three incarnations of Fifth Voyager instead of two is just crazy talk," Danny replied from the helm.

Jessie coughed briefly, "yeah that would be crazy." She looked around nervously as she rubbed her stomach.

"One more thing until we go back to talking like characters?" Harry said.

Tuvok sighed, "I suppose."

"Do you think any of the readers who haven't read Aggressions will look at the recaps of it? If they don't, will they get confused?" Harry questioned.

"Maybe, but it's not like Aggressions was filled with lots of revelations and important stuff. Right?" Danny replied.

Jessie shrugged, "I highly doubt it, most of us weren't even in it."

"Yeah.. you're right, nothing to worry about," Harry grinned.

Kathryn stumbled out of the Ready Room holding a cup of coffee. "Life sucks.. you all suck, I hate you all!" she cried. She made her way over to her chair.

"Morning," Jessie said politely.

Kathryn glared at her, "oh very funny, ah ha ha ha." She collapsed into her chair, while doing so her cup fell out of her hands and spilt the contents all over Chakotay. He literally leapt out of his chair.

"Oh my god, what are you doing?" he yelled.

"Oh chill it was an accident," Kathryn grumbled. "You'd know all about that wouldn't you!"

Chakotay wiped himself down, "that was hot coffee, I'll have to go to Sickbay. Wait, coffee.. why aren't you freaking?"

"Because it's decaf. I just found out that somebody reprogrammed my replicator to give me decaf after one real coffee," Kathryn muttered. She narrowed her eyes, "was it you?"

"No.. but I did tell you to cut down," Chakotay replied. "Now if you'll excuse me." He walked into the turbolift nearest to Harry.

Tom stepped out of the other turbolift sporting a black left eye. "Hi guys," he muttered. Everyone but Kathryn turned to glance at him, all but Tuvok started smirking at him.

"Tom, what happened to you?" Jessie giggled. "This is the first I've seen you today after all."

Tom tried to raise his left eyebrow, but cringed in pain. "Don't ask ok," he grumbled, making his way over to the helm.

Danny got out of his chair and replaced somebody at the Science station. Tom sat down in his chair.

"All right, who wants to investigate the decaf mystery for me?" Kathryn asked. Everyone looked uncomfortable.

**That afternoon**  
**Sickbay:**  
Kes walked over to the biobed Jessie was lying on. "Don't worry, the door is passworded and the Doctor is offline during his 'upgrade'," Kes said.

"I'm not worried, I'm just confused," Jessie said. "This is the first time and James said he'd be here. I'd get mad at him but he always has this cute pout on his face and or the sad eyes, it makes it hard to lose my temper with him."

Kes raised an eyebrow, "now it's my turn to be confused. You get mad at him over the slightest thing, what are you talking about?"

"All right, it's hard to stay mad at him," Jessie muttered with a pout.

Kes nodded her head, "better. Why don't we get this started."

**Engineering:**  
An unknown crewmember walked up to B'Elanna, "Lieutenant, here is the report you asked for."

She snatched it out of his hands, "whatever."

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

B'Elanna sighed, "I'm sorry, it's Paris.. he's getting on my last nerve."

"It's ok, I'm sure he'll move on sometime soon like he usually does," the crewmember said. An unknown girl walked up to him. He looked at B'Elanna nervously, "Lieutenant, permission to be relieved for ten minutes."

B'Elanna looked up from her PADD, she took one glance at the girl before nodding her head. "Go ahead, take your time." She walked away. The two crewmembers stepped out of the room.

**One hour later**  
**The Security Office:**  
A pair of girls were sitting opposite James, crying their eyes out.. he was busy looking uncomfortable.

"Um ok.. that's been happening a lot lately," he said.

"He called me a whore, that in his day girls like me were burned at the stake," one girl cried.

"Ok you mentioned that already," James groaned. "What did he look like?"

The two girls looked at each other. "His face was horribly scarred and he was old."

"Yeah yeah, scarred. He was tall and wide, but walked very feebily," the second girl replied.

"Uh huh.. how old would you say?" James asked.

Tuvok stepped through the doors, "Ensign, can I have a moment of your time?"

"In a sec," James replied. "Well?"

"Oh.. in his eighties, maybe older," the girl replied.

"There isn't anybody on board that looks that old but.." James said, he looked over at Tuvok. "But we do have something that is in that age range but doesn't fit the other descriptions."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow, "I am not the intruder, Mr Taylor."

"I know, I was joking," James said. He turned back to the girls, "can you tell me anything else?"

"I don't think so. I hope you catch him," the second girl replied. "He's really creepy."

"Yeah, after what he said I just wanted to bash my whorish brains out," the first girl muttered. They both got up, the second girl put her arm around her, they both walked out.

"More victims?" Tuvok questioned.

James nodded, "yeah, this guy whoever it is, is not a member of the crew."

"That's why we're calling him an intruder," Tuvok said.

"All right but he may not have been," James said.

"Indeed, have you anymore leads?" Tuvok asked.

"No. He just appears out of nowhere, rambles on to the people nearby and disappears again," James replied. "It all started two days ago."

"I'll do some research to see what happened two days ago, it may give us the evidence we've been looking for," Tuvok said. He headed back out.

"Maybe," James muttered.

**Deck Three:**  
Sid, Foster and Thompson stepped off the turbolift and made their way down the corridor.

"The idea of a creepy old man appearing out of nowhere sounds very horror movie-ey," Foster commented.

"Horror movie?" Thompson said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it's probably a ghost of an old guy," Foster replied.

"Eugh, I don't believe in ghosts," Sid shuddered. "The thought of becoming a ghost when I die sounds horrible, no pain and no feeling."

"Bet you believe in hell then," Johnny said with a smirk. "Or should I say heaven."

They turned the corner, Thompson tripped over something on the floor. "Woah what was.." he muttered as he looked down at his feet. His eyes widened, "oh god.. why does this keep happening to me?"

Foster sighed as he tapped his commbadge, "Foster to Tuvok.."

**Later**  
**The Morgue:**  
Tuvok and Chakotay walked in. "Team One found the body on Deck Three, he was strangled," Tuvok said.

"Do you have any suspects?" Chakotay asked.

"Not yet. We need someone different to do the autopsy," Tuvok replied.

"Why?" Chakotay questioned.

Tuvok walked over to stand next to a body covered with a sheet. "Because Mr Matthews is the only morgue worker we have left."

"I'll call the Doctor," Chakotay said.

"There is no need, I already sent for someone. Mr Taylor is on his way to start the investigation. I'd better start on my end," Tuvok said. He turned back to walk out of the room.

Tom walked into the room, "did somebody call for a morgue assistant?"

"No, a morgue attendant," Chakotay replied. He beckoned his head towards the body, "Tuvok needs you to do an autopsy."

"On my own?" Tom stuttered. "Oh great, I don't know how to do that."

"Then why did either the Doctor or Tuvok send for you?" Chakotay questioned.

"Tuvok said I'd have help," Tom replied.

James walked in, "ok.. who died this time?"

Chakotay raised an eyebrow, "Matthews, he was the morgue attendant."

"Oh, that can't be good. What are you two doing here?" James asked as he made his way over to the body.

"Actually I'm just leaving," Chakotay replied, he headed for the door.

"But.. I don't know what to do," Tom stuttered.

"I've been in here loads of times so I can give you a few tips," James said.

Tom frowned, "you're a little morbid aren't you? Or are you just saying that you've been brought in here, you know dead before?"

"Yes I came in here when I was dead, while I was a ghost I watched Matthews do an autopsy on me," James muttered. Tom's eyes widened in horror. "God you're gullable. Tuvok always assigns me to come here to get the first lot of evidence from the autopsy's."

"Oh thank god," Tom sighed in relief. "Don't creep me out in a place like this."

Chakotay stepped back in, "on second thoughts I'll stick around for a second." Tom and James stared blankly at him. "Janeway was going down the corridor cursing my name."

"Why, what have you done to her recently?" Tom asked.

Somebody grabbed a hold of James' left arm, he jumped, "Tom.. don't do that!"

"Do what?" Tom questioned, looking confused.

James turned a shade paler, "uh if that's not you then who.." He turned around slowly and looked down at his arm, a pale white hand was there. He found it was attached to the body under the cover. "Guys.. do you.."

Tom and Chakotay both glanced in his direction, their eyes went alarmingly wide. The body lifted the sheet off with his other hand, he looked in their direction. In a croaky voice he just managed to spit out, "help me." Tom and Chakotay backed off a few metres, James managed to pull away his arm and backed off too.

**The Security Office:**  
James opened his eyes to find Danny's face right in front of him. He quickly lifted his head off the desk and bolted upright, "Danny.. why, what are you doing!"

"What?" Danny innocently sighed. She lifted her own head off the desk, "did somebody forget to stay awake during the night shift?"

"I wish I had," James groaned into his hand. "Weird dream."

Danny pouted, "aaw, poor baby." She folded her arms on the desk, "now as I seem to have gotten everything I can out of Jess, I'm going to move onto you."

"Huh?" James muttered as he rubbed his forehead.

"You know, you're little rendezvous with Jessie," Danny said, winking. "In the bedroom."

"All right Danny. If I'm starting to get deja vu, whilst I'm listening to something you say that's even the slightest bit dirty, be afraid," James said.

"Oh come on, I barely got a chance to say a full two sentences the last time we spoke about this," Danny moaned. "And you remember, that was the first time we did."

"Sorry, I'm sure I heard that before," James said.

Danny smiled, "ah I see what you're doing, you're trying to get out of this. Nice try mister."

"I'm not really," James groaned, he leaned his elbow on the desk and rested his head in his hand. "Ugh, you and relationship prying in general must give me deja vu."

"Uh huh, so tell me.. how was it?" Danny asked with a grin.

James stared blankly at her, "you can't.. Jess is a girl, it's easier to talk about that with another girl. You can't ask the guy that."

"Why not?" Danny asked, tilting her head a little to the right in a vain attempt to look cute.

"Were you even listening?" James asked.

"Unless you're giving me dirt, I ain't listening, no," Danny replied.

James groaned, "someone help me." He covered his face with his hand.

**Meanwhile, Tom's Quarters:**  
Tom tossed and turned in his bed, he suddenly bolted upright.. now wide awake. "Oh god.. what a dream," he stuttered. After a yawn and quick stretch, he pulled himself out of the bed.

The door chimed in the next room. His body froze then started trembling slightly. He made his way over to the main door, once he had reached it he had calmed down. "Oh don't be silly, it was just a dream."

He pressed a button on the panel next to the door, again he froze when the door opened. A fist flew through the door way and made quick contact with his face. The next thing that flew in was a bunch of roses.

"How many times should I knock some sense into you Paris?" B'Elanna grumbled from the door way. "It's not going to happen!" She stormed off.

Tom groaned from the floor, "must be a re-occurring kind.."

**Not long later**  
**The Bridge:**  
Kathryn glared at Jessie, "oh very funny, ah ha ha ha." She collapsed into her chair, while doing so her cup fell out of her hands and spilt the contents all over Chakotay. He literally leapt out of his chair.

"Oh my god, what are you.." he yelled, pausing mid sentence. He pulled a confused face, "that's weird.. no that's hot." He started to wipe himself down.

"Oh chill it was an accident," Kathryn grumbled. "You'd know all about that wouldn't you!"

"No I wouldn't, it was hot coffee.. you should be more careful," Chakotay muttered. He headed for the turbolift nearest to Harry. He stopped midway to turn and glance at her, "decaf right?"

"Duh.. if it were proper coffee, she'd be all over you," Harry sniggered.

Danny burst out laughing, Jessie groaned. "Don't even think about it Dan, I've had enough images in my head."

"Hey it's not my head," Danny giggled.

Kathryn put both of her hands on her hips, "I'm not in the mood for this today! Somebody reprogrammed my replicator to give me decaf, I only got one proper coffee!"

Tom stepped out of the turbolift next to Tuvok's station, again sporting a black left eye. "Ok is that dream come reality thing that James and Kes, I think.. has an illness, cos I think I caught it." Everyone but Kathryn looked at him, all but Tuvok started sniggering.

"Tom, what happened to you?" Jessie giggled. "This is the first I've seen.."

Tom quickly butted in, "aaah aah, this is getting way too creepy for my taste!"

"What? You look like you've seen a ghost and it beat you up," Harry said.

"Ok I dreamt that B'Elanna hit me, you guys laughed at me, Jessie said that.." Tom muttered.

Chakotay raised an eyebrow, "I had a dream about Janeway spilling coffee on me, and it happened. Now I really should get treated, again." He continued on his way to the turbolift.

"See, it's an illness.. it's spreading," Tom muttered.

"Then keep the hell away from me, I don't want to keep dreaming about being forced to drink decaf," Kathryn grumbled.

"Uh.. that's not how it works," Tom said.

"Ok still, stay away from me.. your aftershave stinks," Kathryn said.

Tom pouted, "ok you didn't say that in my dream, I wasn't prepared." He made his way over to the helm.

**Sickbay:**  
The Doctor opened up a tricorder and began scanning Chakotay.

"Doc, I haven't by any chance been burned by coffee before?" he questioned.

"Yes you did, after the Cherry Coke virus incident," the Doctor replied. "That was different, she threw it at you while she was high."

"Yeah sorry doc, I'm just having a strange case of deja vu this morning. It should pass," Chakotay said.

The Doctor smiled, "it usually does."

**The Security Office:**  
The same pair of girls were sitting opposite James, he was looking even more uncomfortable than he was the last time.

"He called me a whore, that in his day girls like me were burned at the stake," the first girl cried.

"Fourth time's the charm," James muttered to himself.

"Sorry?" the first girl said.

"No, it's ok.." James said.

The first girl smirked briefly at the other girl, "I said sorry, the politer version of what."

"Ok whatever, I'll deal with it," James muttered.

"Don't you want a description?" the second girl asked.

"No I remember it," James replied. The two girls looked confused. "You're not the only ones ok.. I'll deal with it."

Tuvok stepped through the doors, "Ensign, can I have a moment of your time?"

James groaned, "oh great.."

"Ookay, lets go Charlotte," the first girl sighed, standing up. They both made their way towards the door.

"These Security guys are getting ruder," the second girl whispered to her.

Tuvok raised an eyebrow, "is there a problem?"

"I'm not sure right now. I either had a mostly accurate dream of what happens today, my chip's messing with me again or.." James replied.

"Or?" Tuvok said.

"Or.. some third reason I haven't figured out," James replied.

"Interesting. Do you have any leads on the man who keeps appearing around the ship?" Tuvok questioned.

"No I really don't. He's old and not a crewmember. He appears, rambles and goes again," James groaned. "Oh and two days ago."

"What was?" Tuvok asked.

"When it started," James replied.

"I'll do some research to see what happened two days ago, it may give us the evidence we've been looking for," Tuvok said. He headed back out.

James sighed, "maybe." He pulled himself out of the chair and followed him out.

**Deck Three:**  
Tom turned the corner, he almost crashed into the male crewmember from Engineering. "Sorry," he mumbled. They went their separate ways. "This is ridiculous," he muttered to himself.

He passed the turbolift just as it's door opened, James stepped out of it and started going in the same direction as Tom.

Tom glanced back briefly, "don't tell me, murder one?"

James picked up speed to catch up and walk beside him, "what are you talking about?"

"Well I heard somebody was murdered here.." Tom replied.

James passed him a strange look, "I haven't heard anything, yet." He picked up speed again to get ahead of him.

"You know it's weird. I wake up this morning from a bad dream, soon I realise that my dream was just today.. I don't suppose you recognise that, do you?" Tom questioned.

James stopped, and turned back around. Tom stopped just as he caught up with him. "Oddly enough I do."

"Yeah thought so. You saw what happened to that crew who faced the Leda, and there was another incident I can't remember," Tom said.

"No.. this is different," James said.

Chakotay walked up to them, "what are you two doing here?"

"Oh nothing, just casually hanging out," Tom replied.

"Yeah like he'd believe that," James said.

"Doesn't matter, what are you doing here?" Tom asked.

"I just wanted to find something out," Chakotay replied. He walked around them and continued on, he turned the corner.

"Interesting," Tom muttered. He followed him. James sighed, and did the same. Both of them stopped as Chakotay was just standing still near the corner. Lying in front of him was the same body that was in the morgue.

Chakotay sighed, "this can't be good."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Tom muttered.

The body opened it's eyes, startling the three of them. "Please, save me," it said in the same croaky voice.

**The Security Office:**  
James opened his eyes to find Danny's face right in front of him, yet again. He quickly sat right back up, "oh god.."

"What?" Danny innocently sighed. She lifted her own head off the desk, "did somebody forget to stay awake during the night shift?"

"No.. I'm just having a nightmare," James muttered.

**Tom's Quarters:**  
Tom bolted up right in his bed, he looked around the room with his eyes wide open. "Oh boy.." he stuttered.

The door chimed in the next room. His eyes widened in horror, his body trembled. Slowly he edged his way into the living area. "Come in," his voice squeaked.

B'Elanna barged into the room carrying a bunch of roses. She chucked them at him, he ducked like he was expecting a punch. He straightened back up just in time to get her fist in his face.

"How many times should I knock some sense into you Paris?" she snapped. "It's not going to happen!" She stormed off.

"Damn, so close," Tom groaned.

**The Bridge:**  
Kathryn glared at Jessie, "oh very funny, ah ha ha ha." She collapsed into her chair, while doing so her cup fell out of her hands and spilt the contents all over Chakotay. He literally leapt out of his chair.

"Not again!" he yelled out.

"It was an accident this time, you'd know about accidents wouldn't you?" Kathryn grumbled.

Chakotay looked around the room, "oh.. this can't be." He tapped his commbadge, "Chakotay to Paris and Taylor, meet me in my office in ten minutes." He made his way towards the turbolift near Harry.

In: "Oh thank god, something different."

"Getting deja vu, are you Tom?" Chakotay questioned as he stepped into the turbolift.

In: "Not now, no."

"Actually guys, lets meet in Sickbay," Chakotay said.

**Not long later**  
**Sickbay:**  
"Nope, apart from the burns and the bruise that was on your eye, nothing else is wrong," the Doctor said.

"It can't be," Chakotay muttered.

The Doctor shrugged, "I'm telling you there is nothing else wrong."

"Then how come this day so far is a basic repeat of two dreams?" Tom asked.

"I do not know," the Doctor replied.

James walked in, he joined the others at the first biobed. "So, what's going on?"

"Do you remember going into the morgue and a body coming to life? And then the whole day happening again, and then the body coming back to life again?" Tom questioned.

"That's a poorly constructed sentence," Chakotay commented.

James raised an eyebrow, "after four and a half years of Fifth Voyager, you're just complaining now."

Tom grew annoyed, "that's not my fault, now do you?"

"Actually I do, you guys remember that too?" James replied.

"Ah, and now we're rhyming," Chakotay commented. Tom and James stared at him. "Yes we both remember that."

The Doctor frowned, "interesting." He started to scan James with a worried look on his face. "Good news is he didn't freak out again, bad news is.. I don't see anything that'll explain this."

"I'm not going to freak out everytime you scan me you know," James muttered.

"Ok so if it's not medical, what can it be?" Tom asked.

"Well we've had a spell that made us all sing, an awful lot.. so there's that. Doc, why don't you scan another crewmember.. maybe something's been messing with everyone elses memories," Chakotay replied.

Tom clicked his fingers, "of course. If no one else remembers the day, they'll be doomed to repeat themselves until they do. B'Elanna wont remember hitting me, so she'll keep doing it. You see what I mean?"

"There's one problem with that theory," James said.

Tom groaned, "what, it's a very good theory."

"Yes it would be if you could explain a few things for me," James said. "One, you didn't get your eye treated.. how come it was ok in the morning? Two, why did Chakotay and I both wake up after falling asleep in the same place after a night shift, when we only do one every now and then? Three, do you actually remember going to bed at the end of either of those days?"

"Ok point taken," Tom pouted.

Chakotay nodded, "we're forgetting the most important one. Our memory of the day seems to end when that crewmember dies and comes back to life. Furthermore, how come he died twice, in the same place?"

The Doctor sighed, "well, let me know when you solve this mystery." He rushed off.

"Ok, so we're on our own," Tom said.

"Did anyone do a class in school or college that tested you on more recent events in Starfleet?" James questioned.

"I did, why?" Tom replied.

"In my second year of the prep college for the Academy, we did coursework on an Enterprise incident in 2367. Supposably a lot of the members of the crew were experiencing deja vu, they eventually figured out the cause. A temporal loop," James replied.

Tom nodded, "oh yeah I remember hearing something about that. They nearly collided with a Starfleet vessel from the past.. This is different though."

"How?" Chakotay asked.

James shrugged, "they didn't remember things exactly, it was just deja vu and they kept getting the number three everywhere."

"Yeah, they found out that it was a message from the previous loop," Tom said.

"Ok so you think we're in a time loop, how does that help us?" Chakotay asked.

"Well the Enterprise only got out of it because they reverted what was causing it. What's the last thing we remember before the day restarts?" Tom said.

"Matthews asking for help," Chakotay replied.

"So it's simple, all we have to do is stop him being murdered," James said.

"Great," Chakotay said. "Computer locate Ensign Matthews."

**The morgue:**  
"Ok, something very strange is going on here," Tom muttered.

"Really, what gave you that idea?" James said sarcastically.

He, Tom and Chakotay were standing in the office, the same body was lying in front of them with stab wounds.

"Ok to save a little time, we should.." Chakotay said.

The body turned onto his back, "save me."

"Son of a.." Chakotay grumbled.

**The Security Office:**  
James opened his eyes to find Danny's face right in front of him. He just sighed, "you've got to be kidding me."

"I haven't said anything yet," Danny said as she lifted her head off the table.

"Ok I'll give you that," James muttered as he pulled himself out of the chair. He walked straight out leaving Danny looking bewildered. As soon as he was outside he tapped his commbadge.

**Tom's Quarters:**  
In: "Tom.. can't you hear me?"

Tom was lying on his back in his bed, snoring his head off. He started to toss and turn a little.

In: "Tom!"

He sat up quickly, "ok ok." He reached over to pick the commbadge off the bedside table. "Yes, it happened again."

In: "This is great, how did the murderer know we were going to save him?"

Tom yawned into his other hand, "I don't know."

In: "Look just, um.. tell Chakotay to look up any suspects. You should do some research on time loops."

"Ok I outrank you so no.. I want to swap, I'm crap at temporal physics," Tom said.

In: "Ok fine, I'll keep an eye on Matthews. We should keep each other up to date. Taylor out."

Tom sighed, "ok, the day's getting better already." The door chimed, making his eyes go wide. "Crap."

**The Bridge:**  
Jessie shrugged, "I highly doubt it.."

Tom dematerialised in the middle of the bridge, still wearing his night wear. He quickly went over to a sleeping Chakotay, and started shaking him. "Chak, wake up." Everyone turned their attention to Tom, all but Tuvok started sniggering.

"Tom, did you forget something this morning?" Jessie sniggered.

"Actually I didn't," Tom said. He continued to shake Chakotay, he started to wake up.

"What are you doing?" he groaned.

"Saving you from the coffee spilling," Tom replied. "Now hurry up before.."

Kathryn stumbled out of the Ready Room holding a cup of coffee. "Life sucks.. you all suck, I hate you all!" she cried.

"Oh crap," Tom and Chakotay muttered in unison. They both scrambled away from the command chairs.

Kathryn made her way over. "Morning," Jessie said politely.

Kathryn glared at her, "oh very funny, ah ha ha ha." She collapsed into her chair, while doing so her cup fell out of her hands.. the contents spilt all over Chakotay's chair.

Chakotay sighed in relief, "thanks Tom."

"Anytime, just next time we loop.. save me from B'Elanna," Tom said.

Chakotay frowned, "how will I do that, you obviously wake up before me."

Kathryn passed them a funny look, "Tom, why are you wearing that ridiculous outfit?"

"Oh yeah," Tom blushed as he glanced down at himself. "We'd better go." He rushed towards the turbolift. Chakotay shook his head and followed him.

Danny giggled, "I didn't know those two were going out." Everyone groaned.

"So.. you're researching timeloops and I'm searching for suspects," Tom said once the turbolift doors closed.

"I am? Oh never mind, we have no time to argue. Just do it quickly," Chakotay said.

"Not to worry, James is watching Matthews.. I have a feeling my job's going to be a breeze," Tom said.

**Meanwhile, the morgue:**  
James walked in slowly, he looked around the empty room. The door to the office opened, an alive version of Matthews stepped out reading a PADD.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked.

"Yeah um.. I'm going around the crew, asking around about the um guy who keeps appearing," James replied.

"Oh yes, the anonymous old guy. I haven't seen him, sorry," Matthews said.

"Oh well, if you do seem him," James said.

"I'll tell Security," Matthews said, nodding his head. "Now if you'll excuse me," he headed for the door. James waited a while before following him.

**The Mess Hall:**  
Matthews walked in fiddling with the PADD, he sat down at a table. Moments later James walked in, he stood next to the kitchen.

"Ah.. would you like some of my hot chocolate?" Neelix asked.

"I'm allergic," James blurted out.

"To what? You don't even know what's in it," Neelix said.

"I don't need to," James muttered.

Neelix shrugged, "would you like some hot chocolate?" James looked confused, he glanced behind him.

"Yeah right," Jessie said.

Neelix pouted, "oh all right." He left the kitchen area to start bothering other crewmembers.

"There's something I've been trying to figure out, maybe you can help me with it," Jessie said.

James turned around to face her, "ok I'll try."

"When the father of your child says he'll come to your next appointment, where you'd both get to see the baby for the first time, you'd expect it would be top priority to actually turn up," Jessie muttered. "I figured you'd be held up by a murder mystery or something, but no here you are.. standing around the Mess Hall doing nothing."

"Oh god, your appointment.. I totally lost track of time," James said.

Jessie folded her arms, "it's not your best."

"It's not an excuse, I really did. I'm having a really long day," James said. "And I am working on a murder mystery, kinda."

"Tuvok told me you were working on that other mystery, the guy who keeps appearing," Jessie muttered. She shook her head, and put one hand on her hip. "I don't believe you, first you don't turn up to something important and now you're lying to me."

"I'm not.. Tuvok doesn't know about this, somebody's in trouble and I have to protect him," James stuttered.

"Uh huh.. and who would that be?" Jessie asked.

James turned to scan the room, Matthews was not apart of it. "Uhoh.. he's gone."

"If you're protecting him, the least he could do was tell you he was leaving," Jessie said.

"He doesn't know. Listen, I have to.." James muttered.

"Sure, whatever," Jessie grumbled.

James turned back to her, "I'm really sorry, I'll make it up to you ok." He rushed out of the room, then down the corridor. He turned the corner and stopped dead. Matthews was lying next to the turbolift door just a few metres away. His head was turned to the side, eyes wide open.. it looked like he was looking right at him.

"Oh god," James said quietly. He slowly headed over to the body while tapping his commbadge. "Taylor to Chakotay and Paris. He's dead."

In: "But I thought you were watching him."

"He must of slipped out when I was talking to Jessie," James said.

In: "Ah ha, maybe she had something to do with it. What? All right, maybe not."

James sighed as he knelt down next to the body. "How are you doing this?" he asked quietly. Matthews then blinked a few times, his hand grabbed a hold of James' arm.

"Help me," he whispered.

**The Security Office:**  
James opened his eyes and like he expected to, found Danny's face right in front of him. He lifted his head up, "is that all he can say?"

"What?" Danny sighed. She lifted her own head off the desk, "did somebody forget to stay awake during the night shift?"

James groaned into his hand.

**Later**  
**The Mess Hall:**  
Neelix stepped out of the kitchen holding a tray of mugs. He started handing them out to unsuspecting crewmembers.

James was sitting at a table nearby the window on his own, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

Tom ran into the room still wearing his night wear. After a quick scan he spotted James and ran up to him. "Oh god, you have to protect me."

"From what?" James asked.

B'Elanna charged into the room holding a bunch of roses. "Tom Paris! Where are you?"

"Eeek," Tom squeaked. He leapt under James' table.

"I figured you'd be used to it by now," James commented.

"Shh.. I'm not here," Tom whispered.

B'Elanna scanned the room for a little while, she turned around and marched back out.

Tom sighed in relief, he crawled back into view. "Was that a knife attached to your boot, or some nifty fashion accessory?"

"First one, it's best to hide them than wave them around while running," James replied.

Tom pulled himself back onto his feet. "For your information, no I'm not used to it. You don't get used to painful punches in the face."

"So did you loop again?" James asked.

"Yeah, I wasn't even there.. I don't get it," Tom groaned. He collapsed into the chair opposite him.

Neelix walked over to them, "hot chocolate?"

"For the second time, no," James replied.

"Second? Oh I'm sorry, I lost track of which tables I went to," Neelix said. He walked away.

"Second time.. what was in it?" Tom asked.

"I decided to be ignorant, if you want to know go and get one," James replied.

Tom shuddered, "no way." He folded his arms on the table. "You know I was thinking, nobody really remembers anything we do during these loops. Maybe during one we can have a little fun."

"Tom, a guy keeps getting murdered and each time he asks us for help, and all you can come up with is an off loop," James said.

"Well why not, it'll get our minds off this.. I find that the best way to solve something is to stop thinking about it," Tom said.

James raised an eyebrow, "actually Tom, I was already on your side about that.. I just wanted to repeat it."

Tom smiled sneakily, "I knew you would be. Now we just need Chuckles to be in on the deal."

Right on cue Chakotay slowly walked over to them, still with coffee all over him. "Asap? You do realise that I've got a few burns and look like I've forgotten to go to the bathroom, don't you?"

"Oh sorry, it was suppose to be Ayc.. at your convenience," James said.

Tom glanced back at him and started sniggering, "looks like she spilt the coffee differently, or you tried to escape before the disaster."

James put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "Oh my god.. did you have bad dreams?"

"Laugh it up you two, you're getting me out of this next time," Chakotay muttered. "Or I'll assign you to do some toilet scrubbing for a day.. during the loop that is."

"Why, don't tell me you missed too," James sniggered. Tom rested his head in his arm, which was resting on the table.. all you could hear was him laughing.

Chakotay narrowed his eyes, "now I know why you two fight all the time, you're exactly alike."

James stared at him, "no we're not, I don't hide under tables from the girl I have a crush on."

"Hey, you would if it was B'Elanna," Tom grumbled, lifting his head from his arm.

"All right, we're wasting time here. A man's life is at stake.." Chakotay said.

"Actually we were going to take this loop off, weren't we?" Tom said. James nodded his head in agreement.

"Are you crazy, we can't just goof around," Chakotay muttered.

"No one will remember what we do, the day is ours.. but if you insist, we'll continue investigating," Tom said.

Chakotay sighed, "all right, but I objected a little.. remember that."

Tom clicked his fingers, "check boss man."

"How could you say I'm like this guy?" James asked. Tom pulled a face.

**Engineering:**  
B'Elanna walked around the warp core, muttering to herself. She stopped next to a console, "Ensign, where is Charlie?" A crewmember nearby shrugged their shoulders. She shook her head.

Tom snuck in quietly, he headed over to her as quietly as he could. He got there with ease, then tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ok, hasn't anybody heard of 'excuse me'?" B'Elanna muttered as she turned around. Tom quickly grabbed her and kissed her on the lips. He then ran for his life. Her face turned bright red, she charged after him.

**Deck Five:**  
Chakotay stepped off the turbolift, tapping his hand with a PADD. "Why can't I think of anything?" he muttered to himself. "This is stupid." He stopped outside the Sickbay door, he heard voices inside. Instead of going in, he stuck around to listen.

Inside Jessie was lying on a biobed, James was standing nearby, Kes was on the opposite side.

"Don't worry, the door is passworded and the Doctor is offline during his 'upgrade'," Kes said.

"What's he doing this time?" James asked.

Kes sighed, "something about a new vocal.. thingy, I don't know, I wasn't really listening."

"Why do I get the feeling it's not a good upgrade?" Jessie said.

Kes pressed a button on the console at the foot of the bed, the scanner went over Jessie.

"So how will she see it?" James asked.

Kes smiled as she worked on the console, "the computer's making a recording. I'd either delete it later or give it a really good password."

Jessie took a hold of James' hand, "are you not going to look?"

"No, I'd rather watch the recording at the same time you do," he replied.

**Meanwhile:**  
Tom stepped off the turbolift, and made his way over to where Kathryn was sitting. "Captain, there's something I want to tell you."

Kathryn groaned, "ok what is it, I'm busy." She stood up, "somebody replicate me a proper coffee, it wont ban anyone else."

Tom stepped closer to her, "ahem, I think you're bossy and mean, a total nut case and it wouldn't surprise me if you had some sort of relation to James as you're both psycho's." He then ran back the way he came.

Kathryn started fuming, "what did he just say?"

Danny giggled, "oh that would be funny if you and James were. I can see him and Jess having strokes after hearing that." Kathryn glared at her.

**Deck Five:**  
Chakotay was still standing outside Sickbay, and was now playing around with the controls on the side of the door. "Come on, I know about it.. I can go in," he muttered to himself.

Inside James and Jessie were alone, while Kes worked in the room next to the office.

"I don't get it. He or she can kick me hard enough, the bump is a little too big for a tiny little baby," Jessie said.

James smiled as he slipped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure the baby's bigger than it is on the picture."

"Oh.. yeah probably. I just thought that he or she can kick me hard cos it's inherited something from you," Jessie said.

"Oh god I hope not," James said.

"Well I do hope it has something from you," Jessie said.

"He or she probably will," James muttered. "Ok there's something I have to tell you."

"Uhoh.. is it good or bad?" Jessie questioned.

"Depends.." James replied meekly.

Jessie rolled her eyes, "on how you look at it, yeah I heard that before. Ok shoot."

"Ok um.. we've known each other for a really long time, and for most of that time I've uh.. liked you.." James said, looking nervous and fidgeting a little.

Jessie raised an eyebrow, "um, you didn't like me when we first met?"

"No I did, I meant liked you, as I do now.." James replied.

"Oh.. how long's most of the time?" Jessie asked.

"That's the thing, I don't know when it exactly happened. It just developed over the years," James replied. "Anyway I haven't felt this way about anyone else before.."

Meanwhile outside Chakotay was standing right in front of the door, holding his head in his hand. "Oh god James.. don't do it, especially not like that," he groaned. "Lets hope we do loop still."

Some crewmembers passed by, giving him an odd glance each. "Ookay, he's talking to a door," one of them whispered. They all turned the corner.

Chakotay shook his head, "damn, I wish I knew who they all were." He continued to listen in.

"I don't know about you but the last few years for me have been the best of my life. I have you to thank for that," James said.

Jessie smiled, "yeah me too."

James took a hold of her left hand. "I don't know what I'd do if we weren't together, or I lost you.."

"You wont," Jessie said.

"Ok, if I can't do this now, I never will," James muttered. He turned his head back to face her. "Jess, I uh.. I'm in love with you."

Jessie's eyes went wide, "oh.. as a friend?"

James shook his head, "no.. well yes I do as a friend but also as.."

"Oh.. huh," Jessie stuttered. "I don't know what to say."

"Ohno, I freaked you out.. I knew I would," James muttered.

"Not in a bad way, I think.. I just wasn't expecting it," Jessie said. Her face was turning a little red, "that's really sweet, thanks for telling me."

James closed his eyes and sighed. "There's something else."

"Oh?" Jessie said in a worried tone of voice.

"It's a longshot but.." James said as he removed his arm from her shoulders. He used that hand to get a small box out of his pocket. "Jess, will you marry me?" Jessie's mouth dropped open in shock.

Meanwhile outside Chakotay's was doing the same. "I was right? Kathryn's not going to be happy about this."

Jessie placed her spare hand on her chest. "James.. you're proposing to me?"

James looked really nervous, "yeah, it sure looks that way."

"Oh my god, you.. you can't do this to me," Jessie stuttered. "Oh god, don't hate me."

"That wont happen, don't worry," James muttered.

"I think you will," Jessie said. "Look, you have no idea how tempted it is to say yes but.. I can't. I'm sorry, it would be wrong and it would be really selfish of me."

"Selfish, I don't follow you," James said.

"I feel bad enough that you told me how you felt, yet I couldn't do the same for you.. and now this," Jessie stuttered. "You know I've never been loved by anyone, and I've never loved anyone back. I don't understand it, so I really don't know if I love you back or not. I'm sorry, I'm just too messed up."

"It's ok.. I wasn't really expecting you to say you loved me or say yes," James muttered. "I just wanted to know for sure."

"I'm really sorry, you're the last person I want to hurt. I'd understand if you're mad at me.. you can be you know," Jessie said.

"No, I'm not.. I'm mad at me. I was an idiot to even think about replicating this in the first place. I'm sorry," James muttered, he pulled himself off the biobed and headed for the door.

Jessie quickly got off the biobed too, "wait.. you're not an idiot at all. I was really tempted to."

James turned back around, "if you don't feel that way about me that way, why were you?"

"Because I want to be so badly. I really like you, a lot and I see us staying together," Jessie replied. She raised her shoulders, "and I didn't expect you to ever ask me, I was caught up in the moment for a second or two."

"Well I want to be with you, I thought about it.. it doesn't seem so scary. It doesn't matter though," James said. "I'll see you later Jess." He turned to leave again.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I just can't marry someone if I don't love them.. I'm not saying that I don't.." Jessie said.

"It's ok, you probably don't anyway. My dad didn't even like me so.." James muttered without even looking at her. He stepped outside. Chakotay had quickly gone around the corner beforehand. James stood with his back to the door, his eyes slowly swelling up with tears. He then walked down the corridor as quick as he could.

Chakotay peered around the corner just in time to see him go into the turbolift. Jessie stepped out too, she looked around. "James? Oh great, good going Jessie," she muttered angrily to herself. She made her way down the corridor.

Chakotay sighed and shook his head. He turned around to go back around the corner, and down the corridor. He got to the other turbolift, then pressed the button on the panel next to the door. The doors opened to reveal Matthews' body lying in the middle of the turbolift.

"Ohno," he groaned. He was about to tap his commbadge when Matthews turned his head to look at him.

"Save me," he said.

**TO BE CONTINUED..**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Mess Hall:**  
James raised an eyebrow, "actually Tom, I was already on your side about that.. I just wanted to repeat it."

Tom smiled sneakily, "I knew you would be. Now we just need Chuckles to be in on the deal."

Chakotay slowly walked over to them. "You want us to meet here, again? Strange." He sat down next to them and started to wipe down his uniform.

"Again? What are you talking about?" James asked.

Chakotay looked confused, "hang on a moment, this is the first time we have met in the Mess Hall?"

Tom raised an eyebrow as he glanced at James. "Yeah, FYI remember?"

"Well actually AYC," James said.

"At your convenience?" Chakotay questioned. James nodded. "Great, this is not good. I take it you two were planning on having an off loop."

"Where did you get that idea from?" Tom asked.

"Because you two already had one, and you two had such a great time too," Chakotay replied, sounding a little too sarcastic. Tom and James stared blankly at him. "It appears that I only looped that time as I was the only one near the body."

Tom laughed, "yeah right, the only time we weren't together was the last one and James contacted us before it happened."

"Tom you dunce head, you wont remember the last loop cos only I looped, get it," Chakotay groaned into his hand.

"Ok, is there anything you can tell us?" James questioned.

Tom folded his arms on the table, "yeah prove that you looped."

"Actually I asked just in case he learned something new," James muttered.

"Oh sure, you'll believe him cos it's better than being on my side," Tom grumbled.

Chakotay shook his head, "all right Tom, I'll bite. Your little kiss and run game wont work because according to Tuvok, B'Elanna was very close to neutering you when she caught you."

Tom started blushing, James glanced at him smirking. "How do you know I was going to do that?" he stuttered. He glanced at James, "hey, she isn't interested in me and she wouldn't remember, what would you do?"

"Yes I wouldn't laugh if I were you," Chakotay said.

James stopped smirking, "why, what did I do?"

"Lets just say it's worse than Tom's, and I'm nice enough not to share it with him," Chakotay replied.

Tom stared at him with his mouth wide open, "you just embarrassed me with mine, that's not really fair."

"Yes because yours is nowhere near as bad, the result of yours was close though," Chakotay said with a smile.

Tom rolled his eyes, "great, so that's some of my off loop activities ruined."

"We've already missed one loop, we shouldn't waste anymore time," James said. "So where and how did the guy die this time?"

"Turbolift on Deck Five, it looked to me like he had been strangled again," Chakotay replied.

"Ok fine, I don't remember my off loop.. I'm going to have it, again," Tom said as he stood up. "Let me know if you find anything." He walked away.

"What did I do then?" James asked.

"Ok before you go off on me for eavesdropping, I just want to point out that the Sickbay door was locked and the computer said Matthews was on that deck," Chakotay said. "All right, you told Jessie how you felt about her.."

"Ohno," James groaned into his hand.

"I haven't finished," Chakotay said.

"Oh god," James groaned.

"And then you proposed to her," Chakotay said.

"Oh so is that why I didn't loop? She murdered me?" James questioned.

Chakotay smiled, "no, you went into a different turbolift."

"So how bad was it?" James asked.

"On a scale of one to ten, one being 'ha ha yeah right, screw you', and ten being 'oh my god yes'.. about four or five," Chakotay replied.

"So it was a no, obviously.. that doesn't help me," James muttered.

"Look James, she doesn't have a clue about how she feels about you. Put yourself in her shoes, I know they're uncomfortable but just do it.. would you marry somebody if there was an off chance you didn't love them?" Chakotay questioned.

"No I wouldn't," James replied with a sigh. "It's ok, I obviously did it to find out where I stand, now I know."

"I'm sorry, but there's still lots of time. You can still tell her how you feel when this is over, but describe it a bit better.. that way she'll be a little closer to working it out," Chakotay said.

"Yeah you're right, thanks," James said.

"So, you still want that loop off?" Chakotay asked.

"I really do. There is something I have to do," James replied as he got up. "Let me know if you find something."

"You're assuming I'm not having an off loop?" Chakotay said.

"You had one yesterday," James said.

Chakotay nodded, "it's all right, you assumed right. I'll let you know."

"Ok, see you later or earlier," James said as he walked away.

**Later:**  
Chakotay was working on his computer, in his office. The door chimed. "Yeah?"

Tom ran in, his face all red from running. "Chakotay, hide me!" he squealed. He leapt under the desk. A few seconds later B'Elanna stormed in without ringing the chime.

"Have you seen that little pest called Paris?" she asked.

"Ohno, what did he do?" Chakotay asked.

"He kissed me, that's what," B'Elanna grumbled.

"He's under my desk," Chakotay groaned.

"Traitor!" Tom's voice yelled from under the desk. B'Elanna knelt down just as he started to scramble out. She grabbed him by the grey bit around his neck, and pulled him clear away from the desk. She knelt over him and started punching him in the stomach and face.

"Ok that's enough," Chakotay said. B'Elanna ignored him. He got out of his chair, "hey, break it up now!"

James walked in, the first thing he saw was the 'fight' on the floor in front of him. "I bet that's the closest he'll ever get to her. For a Klingon though that's almost like a proposition."

B'Elanna looked up at him with a ferocious look on her face, "what did you say?"

"Nothing you should worry about," James replied.

B'Elanna got onto her feet, "you're just as big a pig as him.."

"According to Jessie, I only am a pig when it comes to food so you're wrong," James said.

"Ugh," B'Elanna groaned. She kicked him in the knee and marched out. "Men, all the same," she grumbled.

"I hope I got a hard kick in the kneecap for a good reason, Tom," James muttered.

Tom pulled himself to his feet, looking a little dazed. "Thanks for that, I thought she'd never stop."

Chakotay shook his head, "you didn't listen to me.. surely there was something else you could of done today."

Tom shrugged his shoulders meekly, "sorry, the temptation was too hard to resist."

Chakotay turned his attention to James, "did you behave?"

"Yes and no. Yes I didn't do what I did yesterday, no what I did wasn't good," James replied.

"Ooh, what did you do?" Tom asked.

A loud banging noise startled the three of them, they glanced in the direction of the door. James stepped out of it first, Tom then Chakotay followed. Just outside was Matthews lying on the ground, with a nasty looking head wound. His body went limp.

"James.." Chakotay muttered.

"On it," James said as he rushed down the corridor. Chakotay went in the opposite direction leaving Tom alone with the body.

"If you're going to ask, just hang on a little while," he said to him.

Chakotay came back first, "nope, nothing. Nothing about this makes any sense. Nobody went into the turbolift, no transporter activity, he or she couldn't of ran that far."

James came back next, "ok, why is there nobody ever around when this happens?"

Chakotay shrugged, "I don't know, this mystery eludes me."

Matthews turned his head in Tom's direction, "help me."

"Here we go again," James muttered.

**The Security Office:**  
James opened his eyes and once again had Danny in his face. He sat up, "Danny.."

She smiled sweetly at him, "aaw, somebody fell asleep on duty."

"Don't take this personally Danny," James said as he got out of his chair.

"Take what personally?" Danny questioned as he joined her on the other side of the desk. He passed her a quick smile before giving her a gentle slap across the face, he walked out. She stared after him, a hand placed firmly on her cheek with a look of shock on her face.

**Chakotay's Office:**  
James and Tom stood around the desk, Chakotay walked in again covered with coffee.

"James when this is over, programme that replicator to ban the decaf coffee as well," he muttered.

James and Tom started smirking at him. "Will do," James said.

"Now, enough fooling around.. we need to get serious. Does anybody have a plan?" Chakotay asked.

"We were on the right track with James following the guy, somebody should do that again and not get distracted. I mean it doesn't matter if we hurt anyone's feelings or anything, right?" Tom replied.

"Well then, someone's going to have to keep Jessie occupied around dinner time if I'm doing it," James said.

Chakotay sat down on the corner of his desk, "consider it done."

"Make sure she stays away from the Mess Hall, if Matthews lives that long he goes there for a minute or so," James said.

"Noted. Tom, I got the names of two crewmembers Matthews is in contact with regularly. I want you to talk to them," Chakotay said. He picked up a PADD and fiddled with it, then handed it to Tom.

"Got it, no problem," he said.

"What else are you going to do?" James asked.

"I'll be doing my own kind of research, with a little help. I'll be in Engineering," Chakotay replied. "Ok lets get moving people." He stepped back out.

**Later**  
**Engineering:**  
"Well if the murder happens at a different time, place and method despite your lack of contact, then maybe the murderer is looping too," B'Elanna said.

Chakotay nodded his head, "maybe, but you'd think the murder would happen earlier everytime to thwart any of our attempts but it doesn't."

"Wow, you have come up with a weird murder mystery there, Commander," B'Elanna said with a smile on her face.

"We have to be prepared for every kind you know," Chakotay said.

"Well rhetorically, the murderer could be looping and changing his or her's strategy to throw you off," B'Elanna said.

"That makes sense," Chakotay said.

Jessie walked in then made her way over to Chakotay and B'Elanna. "Hey guys."

"Hey Jess," B'Elanna said.

Chakotay turned to her, "ah, I'm so glad you could make it."

"Uh huh, what's this about?" Jessie asked.

Chakotay nodded his head at B'Elanna. She smiled, "you're welcome." She then walked away. "I have to apologise.. James and I were working on some Security scenarios, and I made him stay even when he insisted on leaving. I know now that what he wanted to leave for was more important."

"Oh that's ok. Where is he anyway?" Jessie questioned.

"The last time I saw him, he was looking for you. No worries, he's reporting to the Security Office in ten minutes to drop off something," Chakotay replied.

Jessie narrowed her eyes and raised one eyebrow, "what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Chakotay said.

"It looks like you've memorised that from a script," Jessie said.

Chakotay pretended to look insulted, "I didn't.. now why don't we go to the office." He headed towards the main door, Jessie shook her head and followed him.

**The Security Office:**  
Chakotay and Jessie were now sitting on the sofa, Chakotay looked like he was thinking while Jessie impatiently drummed her fingers on her leg.

"Oh Jessie, how are things?" he asked finally.

Jessie looked at him, "specifically?"

"You know, you and James.. the baby?" Chakotay replied.

"Good, really good," Jessie replied.

Chakotay nodded his head, "glad to hear it."

Jessie sighed, "Janeway told you didn't she?"

Chakotay frowned, "told me what?"

"Everything I said about relationships and everything," Jessie replied.

"No, she didn't," Chakotay shook his head.

"Oh.. then forget it," Jessie said.

"No, what made you think she said anything?" Chakotay asked.

"Doesn't matter, it's nothing," Jessie muttered.

"Oh well, if it is something, you'll probably talk to James about it," Chakotay said.

"Yeah right, he wouldn't understand. I'd probably hurt him," Jessie said.

Chakotay sighed, "no kidding."

"What?" Jessie growled.

Chakotay looked a little nervous, "I said 'no winning'."

Jessie frowned, "ookay."

"So if you can't talk to him, who will you talk to about this?" Chakotay asked.

Jessie shrugged, "I dunno, myself.. everyone else will make fun or say the same thing."

"All right, so you don't want to talk to me then," Chakotay said.

"No, I'm good," Jessie shook her head.

They both sat in silence again for a little while.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Shoot," Chakotay replied.

"Have you ever fallen.. you know in love with anyone?" Jessie asked quietly.

Chakotay smiled, "I have yes."

"Uh huh," Jessie said. She put her feet up on the sofa to get comfortable. "Tell me, what's that like?"

"Why do you want to know?" Chakotay asked with a smile.

"Just curious," Jessie replied. "It's never happened to me so at least if it does happen, I'll know."

"All right," Chakotay said. "Where to start.. hmm, oh right. There are a few tell tale signs of love, I'll name a few. One, you can't stop thinking about them. Two, you want to be near them all the time. Three, you'd do nearly anything for them, even risk your own life to save theirs.. that sort of thing." He sat back, "four, when you are with them you feel content, you will feel loved even if they haven't told you how they feel, and complete in a strange way."

"Right," Jessie muttered as she stared at nothing in particular. She snapped out of it and turned back to Chakotay, "change of subject, you said James would be here by now."

Chakotay shrugged his shoulders, "oh right, he'll probably want to find you first. You know what he's like. I tell you what, I'll go look for him."

Jessie climbed onto her feet, "no that's fine, I'll do it." She rushed out of the room.

"Oh.. that's going to be one hell of a distraction," Chakotay muttered to himself. He quickly got up too.

**Engineering:**  
"Are you sure, he just came in," James questioned.

B'Elanna groaned, "yes I'm sure. He came in to look for Harrison, couldn't find him and went into the jeffries tube I think."

"Great," James muttered.

"Mind me asking why you're following him around?" B'Elanna questioned.

"He's in danger, that's all," James replied. He looked around, "which way?"

B'Elanna sighed, she pointed at the door next to the main exit. He headed towards it, just as he got to it the main doors opened. Jessie rushed in, she took a hold of his arm.

"James, can we talk?" she asked.

"Now? Security matter," James said, glancing between her and the door.

"Nowish yeah," Jessie said.

"Ok I'll be right back," James said. He turned back to the jeffries door.

Something exploded on the upper level, everyone stopped what they were doing to look towards the source. Nobody could really see anything besides smoke.

"Ok what was that?" Jessie asked.

James shuddered a little before turning back around. He walked over to stand in front of her, then looked up. "Something else is here."

"Like what?" B'Elanna said.

Everyone who were looking up at the upper level, watched as a heavily burned body rolled across the glass floor near the core. It fell through the gap and landed right next to it.

"Somebody call Sickbay," B'Elanna commanded. She, James and Jessie rushed over to the body.

"That's not.." James muttered. He knelt down beside the body, he pulled him onto his back. It was the crewmember B'Elanna talked to in the first loop. "Who is this?"

B'Elanna put a hand over her mouth, "that's Harrison."

"Ok, this isn't making any sense," James said.

"Why, what's going on?" Jessie asked.

Harrison opened his eyes, but only James reacted to it. "Please, save us," he whispered.

**The Security Office:**  
James opened his eyes, he groaned as he pulled himself back up off the table. Danny did the same and smiled sweetly at him.

"Aaaw, somebody.." she started to say.

"Danny for the love of god, shut up!" James snapped at her, he buried his face in his hands.

"Woah, somebody's not a morning person," Danny said, giggling slightly.

"Can you go, I'll tell you everything later," James said.

Danny's face lit up, "really, great.. I'll see you at six. So excited." She rushed out of the room.

James looked at where she was sitting in before, with a disgusted look on his face. "Why am I friends with these people?"

**Chakotay's Office:**  
"So let me get this straight, you looped on your own this time?" Tom questioned.

"No need to get jealous," James muttered.

"I'm not, this is fantastic. Less memories of the loops, the less crazy I'll be," Tom grinned.

"Can I hit him?" James asked.

"Why not, knock your.. sorry, knock him out," Chakotay replied.

Tom's eyes widened, he leapt underneath Chakotay's desk.

"Later. We have a bigger problem than just me looping," James said.

"Why, what happened?" Chakotay asked.

"Matthews wasn't the one who died and asked, it was some guy called Harrison," James replied.

Chakotay's face turned a little paler, "really? That's not good."

"Why, you know him?" Tom asked.

"No, he was one of the 'suspects'. He knew Matthews," Chakotay replied.

"So who were the other suspects?" James asked.

"There was just one other, her name is Chase Davids," Chakotay replied.

Tom crawled out from under the desk, "hang on, are these guys suspects cos they're friends with the guy or what?"

"No, Harrison was a victim.. I think our prime suspect is Chase," Chakotay replied.

"Why exactly?" Tom muttered.

"Well the two victims are friends with each other," Chakotay said.

"It's not full proof but it's a good start," James said.

"Start? Oh boy," Tom groaned.

"Ok I have a plan," James said.

"It gets better," Tom commented.

James lightly kicked him in the head. "Chakotay you take over Matthews patrol, I'll talk to our new victim and keep an eye on him too."

"Ow.." Tom groaned as he rubbed his head. "What am I going to do then?"

"Do what you do best.. spread rumours," James replied.

"Uh.. about what?" Tom questioned.

"Look your job is to unnerve the killer but not let him or her know we're on to them. I'm sure you'll think of something," James replied.

Chakotay smiled and nodded his head, "ah very good. Make the killer panic and they're more prone to mistakes, easier to expose."

"Ok, lets do this," James said as he headed for the door. "Again."

"Yey team," Tom groaned. He lay his head on the floor, "I'll have a quick nap first."

Chakotay nudged him with his foot, "Tom.."

"I'm sorry, but in a way I haven't slept in less than a week," Tom muttered as he pulled himself up. "What's he going to do about Jess, she distracted him the last time."

"I'm sure if you do your job right, that wont be a problem," Chakotay said. He stepped out.

**Engineering:**  
B'Elanna was busy working at the station by the warp core, muttering some abuse under her breath. James walked up to her. "Hey B'Elanna.. something wrong?"

"Oh yes there is, there's something wrong.. with that damn Tom Paris," she grumbled. She turned away from her station, "next time you try to kill him, make sure you succeed."

"I'll try," James said. "So um, have you seen Harrison?"

"He's on the upper level, why?" B'Elanna replied.

"Oh Security matter," James replied.

"Okay, I wasn't aware that he was in any trouble," B'Elanna said.

"Hopefully he wont be," James said. He made his way towards the lift.

On the upper level, Harrison was busy working on one of the side stations. He glanced behind him, frowning suspiciously then turned back to his work. The lift stopped, James stepped off of it and made his way over to him.

"Hey, are you Harrison?" he asked.

Harrison glanced at him briefly, "yeah that's me. What can I do for you?"

**A little while later:**  
The pair were sitting, with their backs to the stations.

"We never thought that anything would tear a group friendship apart you know, but I guess there's always something," Harrison said.

"What happened?" James asked.

"Chase and Liam happened," Harrison replied.

"Liam.. is that Matthews?" James questioned.

Harrison nodded, "yeah. He and Chase got together a year ago. It wasn't a very stable relationship, she was always grossed out because of his job and was a little needy. He had to work extra hours on some days, she wouldn't visit him at work so they barely saw one another. Whenever they did, they'd argue."

"I take it they broke it off," James said.

"It's a little more complicated than that. I used to go and see him at work, he'd tell me everything that was happening. That's when everything started to change," Harrison said. He glanced away, "this is the part where I stop telling the story to avoid getting mocked."

"I'm not going to, really," James said.

"I'm surprised Chase hasn't spread the word everywhere, anyway. She was intent on getting revenge," Harrison said. "We arranged to meet here to talk it over, but she hasn't turned up. It was stupid of me to think she'd even try to listen."

James looked confused, "ok I thought I got it, but now my head's all muddled up. I figured that those two broke up because you and Chase got together, but if that were the case it would be Liam that would want revenge, not her."

Harrison turned his head back to him, "you're on the right track."

"Oh.. I get it," James said, looking a little uncomfortable. "It was you and Liam that hooked up, right.. sorry."

"It's all right, everyone makes that mistake," Harrison said.

"Ok then, what makes you think Chase swears revenge? Did she say anything, was she mad about you two?" James questioned.

"She reacted like you would expect. She was furious, I don't blame her. How would anyone react when they find out that someone they love has cheated on them, especially with one of their friends," Harrison said.

"No offense but, couldn't you and Liam have told her about how you two felt about one another, before doing anything," James said.

"We did, more or less. Liam and I didn't want to hurt her, but it was inevitable no matter what we did," Harrison said. "I'm wondering something though, if you didn't have any idea what was going on, why did you come and see me?"

"When stuff like this happens, it's always a good idea to investigate friends and enemies first," James replied.

Harrison nodded, "true but in all honesty, I don't know what category Chase falls into right about now. But I can vouch for her, she wouldn't go as far as attacking either of us."

"Maybe not, but those rumours had to start from somewhere. Of course there's more evidence than that," James said.

"What kind of evidence gives you the idea that both of us are in danger today?" Harrison asked.

"It's a long story," James replied, smiling a little. "Look, I'll stick around to make sure nothing happens."

"What about Liam?" Harrison asked in a worried voice.

"Someone else is watching him, don't worry," James replied. "If there's anything else you can tell me, anything.. that would be really helpful."

"Well.." Harrison said.

**Meanwhile:**  
Chakotay was walking down a corridor only a few metres behind Matthews.

In: "Paris to Chakotay."

Chakotay tapped his commbadge, "go ahead Tom, and quietly."

In: "You're not going to believe what I found out from some people. I'm in the process of looking up some proof now."

"Try me," Chakotay said.

In: "Matthews and those two buddy's of his, Davids and Harrison, were committed to a mental institution at the same time when they were kids."

"Really?" Chakotay said.

**The Bridge:**  
"Bingo, I got in," Tom said as he worked at the Science station. "Oh.."

In: "What?"

"They claimed to be seeing what they described as monsters, who kept attacking them for no reason," Tom said. "They continually got bruises, cuts.. which they claimed the monsters did to them but the doctors explanation was self harm."

**Deck Five:**  
"Consider this for a moment Tom, we've had vampires, witches, Slayers, ghosts, curses.." Chakotay said.

In: "Heck there were even big tall demons that rip Slayers heads off, and poison others."

"Exactly.. what if what they were seeing was real," Chakotay said.

**The Bridge:**  
"That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. It would explain why we can never catch the murderer," Tom said. "A demon would probably be fast or something. Oh.."

In: "What now?"

"The doctors didn't find out what was wrong with them. They diagnosed them as being delusional and let them out after they stopped claiming to see them," Tom replied. "When they did their injuries ceased too."

In: "If we're right, then whatever is killing them might be causing the timeloop too and be aware of it."

"All right but if they are demons, how do we stop them?" Tom asked.

In: "We do have one advantage Tom, the victims did partly ask the right people to help them."

Tom narrowed his eyes, "partly?"

In: "Ok fully, you're good at finding out secrets, I'm the one who keeps a level head and James is a Slayer that can fight these guys."

Tom smiled cheekily, "yes I am good at finding out secrets."

In: "That's nothing to be proud of Tom. We'll keep in touch ok, Chakotay out."

Tom sighed, "looks like I'm going to Engineering."

**Engineering:**  
James was busy working at the station directly in front of the core, while Harrison worked at his own station. James glanced over at him, he frowned.. "there was an explosion.."

_"Ok I'll be right back," James said. He turned back to the jeffries door._

_Something exploded on the upper level, everyone stopped what they were doing to look towards the source. Nobody could really see anything besides smoke._

_James shuddered a little before turning back around. He walked over to stand in front of her, then looked up. "Something else is here."_

James walked slowly over to where Harrison was. Again he shuddered, then he noticed the station next to Harrison's was doing things on it's own like someone was working on it. "Harrison, get away from there!" he yelled. Something hit him in the face and pushed him to the ground.

Harrison glanced across, "what, why?" The station next to his started beeping, "oh god." He backed away from the station, suddenly it exploded.

James pulled himself up a little. He looked around but saw nothing that could of hit him, but he could feel a cold presence all around him.

"What's going on?" Harrison asked.

"I don't know," James muttered. Some thing hard punched him in the stomach, and then in the chest. He felt a few hands take a hold of his arms, he put his hand out in front of him and grabbed something that wasn't there and pushed whatever it was away. He was then pulled to his feet, he was again pounded by invisible punches.

"Oh god, no.." Harrison stuttered as he looked around, and then focused his attention on James. "They're all around you."

"You can see them?" James said. He swung his fist in front of him, it did hit something. He kicked in another direction as his hand went to his back.. he pulled out the portable sword thing and moved it around in front of him.

Harrison stepped forward, "behind yo.." He was pushed to the ground before he could finish.

"Great," James muttered, ducking just in case. He turned around only to get a hard punch in the face. A few pairs of hands grabbed him by the arms again, one hand managed to twist his right arm making him drop the sword. It raised into the air on it's own. James struggled to get out of the many grips on his arms, but couldn't.

Meanwhile the lower level was chaotic. Tom walked in and nearly bumped into B'Elanna. She narrowed her eyes, "what are you doing here?"

Tom ignored her, "what's going on?"

"Something exploded on the upper level, I was going to check it out," B'Elanna replied.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Tom said as he ran towards the core. B'Elanna shook her head, she followed him but not as fast. A body fell down from the upper level, and crashed next to the core. Tom's eyes widened as he stepped closer to him, he knelt down beside him and pulled him onto his back. It was James, with a nasty stab wound on his chest, not far from the neck.

"Ohno.." B'Elanna said.

"I could say the same thing," Tom stuttered. There was a scream just above them, then something smaller landed next to them.

"Tom.." B'Elanna said.

Tom glanced over, "oh my god." Right next to B'Elanna lay Harrison's head, on it's own. "Oh god.. this is not good."

"Tom," a familiar voice said.

Tom's eyes went wider as he slowly glanced back at James. He opened his eyes and turned his head towards him, "you can't see.."

**Tom's Quarters:**  
Tom sat up really quickly, "oh boy.." He reached over to grab his commbadge, "you can't see what? Oh great." He tapped the commbadge, "Paris to Chakotay and Taylor, this is getting more screwier by the minute so can we meet asap?"

**Later, Chakotay's Office:**  
Chakotay sat down behind his desk, "so somebody else got murdered this time?"

"Yes, Matthews buddy Harrison.. twice. You must of missed two loops by now," Tom said.

"Ok what do we know?" Chakotay asked.

"We'll have to wait for James to arrive. But there is something I can say before he comes," Tom replied. He sat down opposite him, "he died too in the last loop."

"What? You're kidding right," Chakotay stuttered.

"No, he was the one who asked this time. Only instead of saying something like 'help me', he said 'you cant see'," Tom said.

"What on earth does that mean?" Chakotay asked.

James walked in, "hey, is anyone keeping count?"

Tom stared at him, turning pale. "Uh.. not really no. I looped on my own this time."

"Ok," James said, he sat down on the desk. Chakotay pulled a face. "You'll obviously know everything from the last loop after all. Anything we need to know?"

"Those friends of Matthews, and the man himself were committed to a mental asylum. They were claiming that they could see monsters and they were hurting them," Tom said.

Chakotay raised an eyebrow, "really, that's interesting."

"We both came to the conclusion that they were demons, maybe only those three could see them," Tom said.

"And you think that it's them that's responsible for the murders?" James questioned.

"Yeah exactly," Tom replied.

Chakotay frowned, "wait James, last loop.. why wouldn't we remember what you thought was the last loop?"

"Cos I looped on my own," James replied. "Harrison asked that time."

"I said you must of missed two loops," Tom said.

Chakotay nodded, "noted, I'll have to loop this time if we do, this is ridiculous. So what happened?"

"Nothing much, Harrison died instead.. that's it," James replied.

"Yeah he died in the last one too," Tom said.

"Weird, I was going to suggest watching him.. so I must of the last time," James said.

Tom bit his lip nervously, "you did yeah."

"And.. surely I found something out," James said.

"Actually you didn't contact me, Chakotay didn't say anything so obviously not," Tom muttered. He turned back to Chakotay, "I say each of us follow the victims and ex suspect. No doubt the girl's in danger too."

"Good idea," James said, eyeing Tom funny. "What are you hiding?"

Tom looked nervous, "uh.. nothing."

Chakotay shook his head, "you died along with Harrison." Tom turned to him, pulling a nasty face.

"Oh.. must of been demons then, hopefully anyway," James said. "How did it happen?"

"I didn't see it," Tom stuttered. "Your body fell from the upper level, all stabbed and stuff."

"And you asked instead of Harrison," Chakotay said.

Tom glared at him, "what did I do to you?"

"I'll get working on a list when this is over," Chakotay replied.

Tom pouted, "do you have any idea what 'you cant see' means?"

"Um.. you can't see, maybe?" James muttered.

"That's what you said instead of 'help me', and I can see fine," Tom grumbled.

Chakotay shook his head, "never mind, we haven't got much time. Tom, you follow Chase. I'll keep an eye on Harrison as that didn't work well for James. And you'll follow Matthews."

**Deck Five:**  
Tom walked down the corridor pretending to be nonchalant, just a few metres behind the girl who was with Harrison in the first loop. She turned the corner.

Meanwhile Chakotay was following Harrison go down a different corridor. He also turned a corner, Chakotay followed him around and then stopped dead. He quickly went back around the corner.

Tom followed the girl around the corner, he did the same as Chakotay. The girl and Harrison had stopped in front of each other, they started talking quietly.

"Why are we meeting here?" the girl, Chase asked.

"Cos something weird's going on, don't tell me you don't feel it too," Harrison whispered.

**Meanwhile, the morgue:**  
James stepped in to find the room empty, a frown grew on his face as he went further inside. A light banging sound came from the office. He made his way over to it. There was a scream, then the window smashed as Matthews fell through it.

James rushed over to him, then knelt down. "Are you ok?"

Matthews groaned as he pulled himself half up. "Yeah.."

"What happened?" James asked.

Matthews tried not to laugh, "you wont believe me, no one ever does."

"I'll believe you. Just get out of here," James said as he stood back up.

"What's the point, you can't see them," Matthews said as he stood up too.

"You can't see.." James said quietly. The door to the office slammed open on it's own, as it did Matthews' eyes widened.

**Deck Five:**  
Chakotay and Tom were standing next to Harrison and Chase.

"I just woke up this morning with a case of deja vu, and later I got a familiar feeling of somebody watching me," Harrison said.

"You think that's bad, try reliving the same day a dozen times," Tom said.

Chakotay elbowed him lightly, "and then what?"

"As I went to work it got worse, so I decided to change my plans. Then everything felt new, but I still feel like I'm being watched," Harrison replied.

"Have you been getting the same thing?" Tom asked.

Chase nodded as she folded her arms, "yes, but what do you mean by reliving your day?"

"Tom and I, and one other are caught in a time loop," Chakotay replied.

"Oh, and I'm complaining about deja vu.. I have no right," Harrison said.

"We're going to get to the point here. Those monsters you saw as kids.." Tom said. Harrison and Chase glanced at each other, both with the same worried expression on their faces. "It's ok, we think that you weren't seeing things and that they were real."

"That's stupid," Chase muttered.

"It's not Chase, don't you remember how they used to hurt us? They said we weren't suppose to see," Harrison said. He turned back to Chakotay and Tom. "They stopped hurting us when we left the hospital."

"Ok, so you must be seeing them again if they still want to hurt you," Tom said.

"This is ridiculous, we haven't seen anything and demons don't exist," Chase muttered.

"Well something happened today because in every loop either you or Matthews are murdered," Chakotay said.

"And in one loop one of our own died, so if there's anything else you must tell us," Tom said.

Chase rolled her eyes, "I'm not going to talk about any crazy theories of yours.."

"Chase we've seen a few weird things on this ship, it's not entirely crazy," Harrison said. He tapped his commbadge, "Harrison to Matthews." No response. "Liam respond, this is important."

"He must be under attack again, lets go," Chakotay said. He ran down the corridor, Tom and Harrison followed. Chase shook her head and walked after them.

**The morgue:**  
James and Matthews were both trying to fend off the invisible demons when the other guys rushed in.

"Woah.. that's dodgy," Tom muttered. He was hit over the head and knocked to the ground.

Harrison charged further into the room to go to Matthews' aid. As he did a knife raised into the air, pointed in the direction of Matthews who had his back turned to it.

Chakotay dragged Tom back onto his feet, Tom then noticed the knife and Harrison charging towards Matthews. The whole scene started to go in slow motion. Tom's mouth dropped slowly while the knife slowly lowered itself towards Matthews' back.

"Nooooooo," Tom screamed dramatically in slow motion. Chakotay slowly turned his head towards the scene, James did the same.

The knife plunged into Matthews' back, Harrison pushed him right afterwards. James threw the portable sword in their direction, blood suddenly appeared on the tip and spread upwards, it then crashed onto the ground. Chase entered the room just as Matthews body landed on the ground. Everything went back to normal speed.

Harrison hovered over Matthews body with a look of horror on his face, something pushed him away and started pounding on him. James went over to pull whatever it was away.

Tom tried punching the air, a hypospray floated up behind him and hit him in the neck. "Oh.. woah.." he mumbled as he started to lose his balance. Chakotay stared at him, wondering what was wrong. Tom fell to the ground just as the hypospray did the same to Chakotay.

While all this was happening Chase made her way over to Matthews body, she started dragging him towards the office.

James turned away just in time to see it, he ran over to them just as they got into the office. Chase looked up at him with wide eyes, "what? I was just getting him out of the way.."

"He's dead.. what's the.." James muttered.

Matthews turned his head towards him, "save us."

Chase glanced down at him, then looked back up with her mouth wide open in shock.

**The Security Office:**  
James woke up and quickly sat up, "this is just getting better and better."

"Aaaw, good for you," Danny said with a grin. She lifted her own head up, "if things are so good with Jess, why are you working night shifts?"

James glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, he got out of his chair and walked out.

"Ookay," Danny shook her head.

**Chakotay's Office:**  
Chakotay waited patiently behind his desk. Tom walked in, "hey guess what."

James walked in too, "ok guys, I know what we're dealing with."

Tom's eyes widened and he turned pale, "uh no you don't, I looped on my own this time."

The two stood on different sides of the desk, Chakotay kept on glancing at whoever spoke.

"Yes I know cos I looped on my own after you," James muttered.

"Yeah right, you're just jealous cos I get to deliver the news and everything," Tom said.

"No I looped twice," James said.

"Stop trying to steal my thunder!" Tom snapped.

"I'm not, besides you kind of stole mine," James groaned.

"No I didn't, I remember you keeping it yourself.. you two don't," Tom said. "You're just trying to steal it back."

"All right fine. If I only looped once then I don't know the two victims, and the girl were in a nut house. Plus it's demons that are attacking them and I died two loops ago," James said.

Tom stared blankly, he clicked his fingers and sat down on Chakotay's desk, "damn it."

Chakotay glanced between them, "so let me get this straight, I missed three loops? And you two are arguing cos you keep alternating loops.."

"I know what's doing this so we don't have to worry," James said.

Tom rolled his eyes, "yes I know, demons."

"Not just any old demons," James said. "You can't see.. sound familiar?"

"Creepily yes," Tom muttered.

"No," Chakotay said.

"The demons are invisible, I don't know why," James said.

"So how do we stop them?" Chakotay asked.

"We were very close last time. Look Harrison contacted Matthews, you two were following Chase and Harrison so something must of happened," James replied.

"Well we don't remember, duh," Tom groaned.

"Then we just do the same thing again. Tom you follow Chase. Chakotay, Harrison," James said. He walked back out leaving the other two looking confused.

"Ok we outrank him," Tom said.

Chakotay sighed, "just for today we'll listen to him, lets go."

**Deck Five:**  
Tom was again following Chase, trying to look nonchalant. She turned the corner like before, Tom followed her.

Meanwhile James was following Matthews, he tapped his commbadge. "Taylor to Paris and Chakotay, something's not right. Matthews stayed in the morgue this time yesterday and we were attacked." Matthews turned the corner and walked up to Chase who was standing around. Tom peeped his head around the other corner and spotted James.

In: "That is strange, you didn't talk to him did you?"

"I didn't have time to," James replied quietly.

"What are you doing?" Harrison asked from behind him.

James turned around, "do you want the long or short version?"

Chakotay joined the two, "James, what are you doing here?"

Harrison glanced between the two, "sir are you following me?"

A small bang got their attention, they all turned to where Matthews and Chase were standing. Tom was lying unconscious on the ground, with a head wound. Matthews had backed into the wall, Chase was backing towards James and the others.

"Ohno, it can't be.." Harrison stuttered. He ran towards Matthews, James just missed stopping him so he followed instead.

Tom groaned from the ground, "oh my head." He pulled himself up.

Harrison went over to block Matthews from any kind of attack. James got pushed away from them.

Chakotay turned his attention towards Chase, who was standing around just watching. "What makes you so special?" he said quietly.

"Johnny, don't.." Matthews muttered, he tried to push Harrison out of the way. Harrison turned around to face him.

"No, I'm not letting them get you again," he said.

"Again, what are you talking about?" Matthews questioned. His eyes widened, he ducked bringing Harrison with him. Harrison glanced to his right, then pushed him to his left. He fell to the ground.

James turned around just in time to see a knife plunge into Harrison. "Damn it.." he muttered as he ran over. He pushed away whatever was nearby him, then knelt down next to him. "Why did you do that?"

Harrison weakly opened his eyes, "not again.. I couldn't."

"How did you know?" James asked. Chakotay and Tom surrounded the two.

"Deja vu.. remember," Harrison mumbled. His eyes closed, and his head fell back.

"Huh?" Tom said. "What's he on about?"

James sighed, "he was there when Matthews died this time.. their locations and deaths keep changing.."

Matthews walked over to them, "died, what are you talking about?"

Chase also came over, "stop talking nonsense."

James turned his head to look up at her, "he remembers.."

Chase looked worried, "he can't, there's nothing.."

"James.." Harrison's voice whispered. James turned his attention back to him. Tom backed off a little, eyes widening. "Stop her."

**Chakotay's Office:**  
"He remembered that he died, and he tried to stop it," James said.

"So are all of them looping too?" Tom asked. "Cos that would explain why things keep changing."

"No, Harrison said deja vu.. maybe he just has a feeling about it," James replied.

Chakotay nodded, "if they did loop they'd remember asking us for help, and would try to talk to us first thing in the morning."

"I guess so, but Matthews didn't remember dying," Tom said.

"We're wasting time just guessing about this," James muttered. "It's Chase, I know it is."

"Chase, it was the demons that did this," Tom said.

"Maybe so, but why is she the only one who hasn't been murdered?" Chakotay asked. "In that attack, they didn't hurt her."

"They didn't attack you either," Tom muttered.

"They did in the loop I remember, one sedated the two of you," James said. "And when Matthews died, Chase tried to get rid of the body."

"Of course," Chakotay said, clicking his fingers. "She must of been trying to get his body away from us, so we wouldn't loop."

"She must of done something to get the demons here, we have to stop her," James said.

Chakotay nodded, "computer locate Chase Davids."

The computer responded, "Chase Davids is on the bridge"

"We may be too late," Tom said.

"There's only one way to find out," James said.

"Wait.. she's not on the bridge.. I would remember," Chakotay said. He tapped his commbadge, "Chakotay to the bridge."

In: "Janeway here.. idiot."

"Did you just call me an idiot?" Chakotay asked, he quickly shook it off. "Is there a girl on the bridge, dark hair, short in height, white?"

In: "Well there's Jessie, but that's it. Moron."

"You've got to stop doing that," Chakotay grumbled.

"We should split up, we have to find her," Tom said.

"Yeah, she's not going to go back to Deck Five.. I'm sure she knew we were onto her," James said.

In: "I told you, she's right here. D head."

Chakotay groaned into his hand, "we're not looking for Jessie. Chakotay out." Tom and James stepped out of the room, Chakotay got up and followed them.

**Deck Seven:**  
Tom walked down the corridor, "nope, no sign of her. We're probably too late now."

In: "Keep looking. If we are we may as well use this loop to interrogate her."

In: "Be optimistic. if Harrison does have deja vu as well as Matthews, then they'll be together trying to protect each other."

In: "Yeah that worked well both times, didn't it?"

Tom frowned as a girl walked around a different corner and started walking in front of him. He picked up speed while tapping his commbadge. "Hey.. Chase!"

The girl stopped, she turned around. "Tom, what a pleasant surprise," she said sweetly.

"You've got to stop this. Whatever happened, it's not worth their lives," Tom said.

Chase narrowed her eyes, "how can you say that when you don't even know." She walked closer, "they made a fool out of me."

"Killing them wont erase that," Tom said.

"No, but it's a good punishment for them and a good relief for me," Chase said. "You know I've been doing whatever I can to stop you lot from looping, I was very close with the other blonde one.. until he asked of course. I guess there's only one thing I can do."

"Oh yeah, do you know why that keeps happening cos it's really bugging me?" Tom asked.

Chase just smiled at him, she pulled out a hypro spanner. "Beats the hell out of me.. oh well, I'll just beat the hell out of you." She leapt forward to hit him with it, he grabbed her arm to stop her.

He tried to push her away, she kept a tight hold of him by the arms. Instead he pushed himself towards the wall, she slammed right into it and dropped the spanner. She kicked him in a sensitive place, making him stumble back and onto the ground.

"You're so going to regret doing that," she growled.

Tom eyed the spanner briefly, "maybe so.." He quickly grabbed it as she moved closer. He swung it at her, it hit her in the leg making her stumble backwards. He used the wall to pull himself back up. She made her way over to him, before he could do anything she had put her hands around his neck. He raised the spanner and hit her over the head. Her grip loosened, then she fell to the ground with blood coming from her head.

"Oh my.." Tom stuttered, his face turned white.

**Later, Engineering:**  
"You killed her?" James said in amazement.

Chakotay glanced at him, "you said that a few seconds ago."

"I know.. I'm so shocked, I'm in a rut," James said.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly proud of it you know," Tom muttered.

Both Harrison and Matthews walked in through the main doors, and joined the three.

"Well?" Chakotay questioned.

Harrison sighed, "the feeling of being watched is gone, and no attacks."

Tom fished a gold chain out of his pocket, "I found this in her pocket.. I don't know if.."

Matthews took it off him, "I gave this to her for her birthday last year."

"Oh sorry, well you may as well keep it," Tom said with a shrug, looking a little guilty.

"I can't believe it, I never thought she'd go this far. I'm still not sure how she did it," Harrison said.

"And I'm not sure how come you two had deja vu everytime, and no one else did," Chakotay said.

"There's a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense," James said. "One how come you guys came to life and asked us to help, and then the day rewound? And how come you could see the demons in the first place?"

"I don't know, but at least we know now that we weren't dellusional," Matthews replied. He glanced briefly at Harrison, "we'd like to thank you for helping us, and uh.. apologise as well."

"I think you two being alive and well is thanks enough," Chakotay said.

"Still, thanks.." Matthews said. He turned around and walked out.

"I'd better keep an eye on him just in case," Chakotay whispered to the others. He followed, Tom shrugged before doing the same.

"There's still a little sense of deja vu playing in my mind," Harrison said. "We didn't by any chance talk in here, did we?"

"Maybe, I missed one or two loops," James replied.

Harrison smiled, "I think we did.. just not here exactly. No doubt you were asking about what would want to harm me, and personal questions."

"Huh.. if I did, sorry I don't like people butting in my personal affairs either," James said.

"No, you had my best interests at heart. I'll look past it, this time," Harrison said, smirking slightly.

"I'd better go anyway, something I gotta do," James said. He turned to leave. "Just make sure that the next time I see you, you're not a dead body."

"I'll try," Harrison said. He frowned slightly, "oh and James?"

James turned back around, "what?"

"She'll tell you someday you know," Harrison smiled. He turned and walked away.

James looked confused, "huh.. who, what.." He turned back around and headed out. "Ookay."

**-**

**THE END**


End file.
